


velodrome

by eeveepkmnfan



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Neither is Skull, Or the mafia, Verde isn't very happy about flame stereotypes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-08 08:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17977922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eeveepkmnfan/pseuds/eeveepkmnfan
Summary: Skull and Verde. They are different, so different. A scientist and a stunt rider, nothing in common at all... Except for the ring of green their eyes sometimes get around their iris. Nothing, right?What the rest of the Arcobaleno don't know will likely come back to bite them later.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song Velodrome by Dessa!!

Out of all of them, Skull thinks he likes Verde the most. Sure, he’s scary smart and intimidating and will threaten them with any number of things at the drop of a hat, but… so far, he’s the only one of them who hasn’t deliberately hurt him, which is saying something if it’s the morally bankrupt mad scientist who’s being the paragon of human decency. (He ignores the voice in his head screaming mafia and danger and – he doesn’t like thinking of the situation he’s gotten himself into.) 

Then again, if Skull were forced to pick any of them to be stuck with, he’d choose Verde any day. While Fon (passive, oh so observant Fon) or Viper (they are cold, cold, cold; Skull can’t stand them) would annoy him half to death and have fun doing it, it is Reborn and Colonello he truly can’t stand. The both of them are downright petty, arrogant and baffling in turn. Why, if he’s so weak, do they take such pride in beating him down again and again? Is it really that fun humiliating someone so powerless by comparison? (And doesn’t that make _them_ weak, too?)

He and Lal have a mutual agreement of indifference towards each other. Sometimes, when they catch each other’s eye between flashes of posturing and arguing or mafia stuff, the both of them even feel a little bit like friends. Then, Colonello will notice and then yell at him or Reborn will get that cruel glint in his eyes that marks Skull as prey, and the others will say nothing, will only sit there and _watch_ , and then Lal doesn’t feel like much of anything after all. 

Luce is, after the strange man who talked (forced) him into this whole mess in the first place, the one he is the most afraid of. She looks at them all as if they don’t matter, as if she is speaking to thin air when she addresses them – when she offers them food and drink and idle conversation, it is as if she is reading a script out loud by herself. And yet the thing that scares him is how sincere she is in her attempts to get close to them… it sends a shiver up his spine and a cold feeling to settle in his chest. He tries his best to avoid her as much he can (it isn’t enough). 

And Verde probably isn’t much better than the rest of them (he watches you, remember when -) and Skull would probably dismiss him like they have all done with him, except… except, except that the scientist hasn’t done that with him at all, and it is so confusing. Ever since Skull first opened that door and came tumbling into what was the mafia, Verde’s eyes haven’t left him alone. Whenever he gets up the courage (the anger) to look up into them, the confusion only grows.

Verde looks at him like he’s something the lightning (it is still weird and odd and new and exciting, these flames) has never seen before. Like he’s someone valuable. But he’s Skull, the civilian cloud, the weakest of the group, the mistake. He’d never meant to be here, had no interest in titles or power. And yet, _Verde_ looked at him like that. (Skull has never underestimated how scary Verde is, like most of the others seem to. How stupid of them, he sometimes thinks, and has to restrain his urge to smile.)

They haven’t even spoken more than a hanful of words directly to each other, just an exchanging of names (if you don’t count off handed insults more directed to the side of the wall than Skull’s face that almost feel playful, or exclamations and squeals of excitement whenever Verde deigns to work on something outside of his own room). Skull and Verde. They are different, so different, a scientist and a stunt rider, nothing in common at all… 

Except… Skull remembers one mission, when he and Verde ended up partnered together (you can at least be canon fodder for the one doing all the work, can’t you, lackey? Skull never saw Verde’s clenched fists and stiff posture, or his narrowed eyes which held a thin ring of green around the iris…) and despite what he’d been dreading, as he stood there wringing his hands and not knowing what to do (how could he, when no one had even shown him how to do anything? How could he play when he didn’t know the rules?), the lightning behind him that had been hacking into the building they were infiltrating had breathed out an irritated sigh and grabbed him by the collar and yanked him down beside him.

Skull had yelped, caught completely off guard, and he’d flinched when he’d come face to face with the clear anger on the other man’s face, and at that, the scientist had removed his hand and turned his head towards his laptop.

“Watch,” was all he’d said, a curious note of frustration in his usually composed voice, and Skull had simply been too curious to remind himself to be afraid, which had been remarkably Stupid of him. But he dared anyone to sit there with a scientist like Verde and not be amazed at how fast or amazing or brilliant he was. As Verde had systematically torn down firewall after firewall and dove deeper and deeper into security and alarms and protections and so many walls – _as he’d broken through them all like they were nothing_ – Skull realized that the lightning was trying to teach him. And, going by the fascination welling up in him, no one could say that he wasn’t at least partially succeeding.

It was when the scientist handed over the laptop and Skull was faced with a Problem on the screen in front of him (but something even he could already recognize as something much weaker than what Verde had been dealing with) and his green haired mission partner had said, “Now, do.” – that was when Skull had grinned, shaky with nerves and adrenaline and gratitude, and replied, “Of course!” 

And he’d done it. Somehow, he’d won, and when he’d turned to crow about his victory to Verde, he found himself silent as he watched the devious smirk on the inventor’s face, his green green eyes so smug and – and _proud_. Of him? Of Skull?

They’d stayed in that silence until the mission was over, done and completed, but as they’d walked to the rendezvous point to meet up with everyone else, Skull couldn’t erase Verde’s expression from his mind. Just what was that all about?

He never asked, too nervous at what the scientist might say. But even he noticed when Verde began speaking up more at meetings, specifically when Skull was being picked on. Whenever Reborn or Colonello started to tease (embarrass) him, there Verde would be with a witty remark that would direct everyone’s attention from Skull and onto him. 

And Skull didn’t understand. All he could see in the lightning’s eyes was – something he was afraid to touch. And so he averted his eyes and did nothing. 

(Skull was a coward, and he knew it. In most situations, he would rather run than fight. He knew that, and yet why did he want to -)

Then one night Skull woke heaving and crying from memories or nightmares or dark thoughts come to haunt him, and so he’d shuffled out of bed and down the hall, too tired to yawn as he quietly crept inside the kitchen.

Only to find it occupied already, by who else but the very man he’d been hoping to avoid. Verde gave him a slow once over and raised his brow but didn’t actually say anything. He didn’t need to. Skull huffed, irritated and groggy and just wanting some hot chocolate. Was that such a crime?

He ignored the elephant in the room and made his cup in tense silence, and just as he’d begun to relax, liquid soothing his throat and mind, a voice spoke.

“Why do you persist in the act?” Skull slowly turned and found those green, green, green eyes pinning him in place, an unforgiving glare in place.

If he hadn’t been so tired, if he hadn’t come to the kitchen, if if if. But Skull did, and so he merely scoffed in the face of that glare, at Verde. (Stupid.)

And Skull glared back. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me? Maybe because I’m a civilian and everyone else here is a trained killer, including you? Because I’m the lackey, useless and weak and _good for nothing_!” He snarled like a beast, and he could feel his flames curling and flickering around his body in both a warning and some kind of comfort. 

Skull put down his hot chocolate and marched right up to Verde, head held high and refusing to falter as he poked the other man in the chest. When next he spoke, it was soft, his words biting.

“Or maybe it’s because none of you have ever expected anything different.” Laced there was the unspoken insult that the World’s Greatest should have been better.

As he stood there staring up at the other, Skull slowly began to regret ever opening his mouth in the first place. He was just trying to formulate a method of escape when Verde suddenly smiled, his eyes shining and alive like they only got when he was working or researching or bringing Reborn down a peg (Skull thoroughly approved). 

Verde took a step forward towards Skull’s frozen form and tilted his head as if observing a change in a variable. Then – 

“You have a rather strong secondary Lightning flame, you know.”

What?

Verde smirked. “It’s almost as strong as your primary, which is saying something. Your Flame’s density is almost overwhelming; it’s fascinating, of course. I’ve never come across someone like you before… Cloud and Lightning together in one person. What a volatile mix.” 

Skull could only listen, stunned. He had another flame? And it was the same as Verde’s? That was (so cool) something. He frowned and decided it was time to start asking some questions.

“Why is it volatile?”

The scientist took a seat at the table and motioned for him to as well. Sinking into the hard wood chair warily, Skull took in the excitement almost radiating off of the man across form him and snorted. “And why are you… happy about this?” If anything, he would have pegged the other man to be apathetic. 

Verde leaned his head in a palm and smiled, and it hit Skull that this was the most relaxed he’d ever seen him. It was obviously deliberate; what did the other man gain from all of this?

“In the mafia, there are certain expectations and stereotypes for flame users. To most of the community, Lightnings are expected to shield their superiors from attacks – in other words, to die as canon fodder. Clouds are no better; they are rare and almost as misunderstood as Lightnings. They are thought to be ‘aloof and drifting, protecting the family from a distance’. I shouldn’t have to tell you what sort of instincts that mafia might beat into newly Actives or young Guardians, do I?”

No, he didn’t. Skull sat there in horror. He didn’t even want to know what role the rest of the elements got shoehorned into. This was bad enough… With a sudden realization, Skull straightened up.

“Is this why… _sempai_ and Colonello…?” He practically spat the sarcastic title for Reborn, for once feeling no joy in actually getting one over the hitman. (Did he really think that title was meant to be respect?)

“Possibly. Though most likely, they aren’t aware of your secondary, the idiots. Much too self-absorbed to take a look that deep into someone else’s flames? Or perhaps they can feel something off about you; who would ever expect something like this?” Verde’s smug smirk said that _he_ had.

Well. At least they probably didn’t know. That was… something. Skull furrowed his brows. “And how are you so sure?” He asked but he was already pretty sure that if Verde meant something it was probably ninety percent certain. The other man was much too smart for everyone else’s own good. (There wasn’t any reason he could think of if Verde were just manipulating him. What benefit would that even have? No, it was more likely that he was being truthful.)

Verde turned serious eyes on him, face blank. “Skull.” He unconsciously leaned in at his name being spoken. But the other man didn’t say anything about it, even if he noticed. 

“Cloud flames are just behind Sky in how rare they are. Of those that are found, most go mad from being chained to a familgia and die trying to escape. The few that don’t end up so warped as to be unrecognizable from what they were, or explode. Lightnings, on the other hand… the fatality rate being what it is, it is considered ‘impressive’ to find and keep one for over a year. Now take you – Cloud and Lightning, and yet none of the instincts that the mafia is famous for perpetuating. Don’t you see how incredible it is that you exist? A civilian with an amount of flames that should put his body into a coma, Active primary and secondary Flames with none of the drawbacks – no aggression or short temper, no need to fight to prove your worth, _nothing_ – don’t you see? It’s amazing how you haven’t dropped dead of flame exhaustion yet.”

Skull sat and tried to parse out everything in that explanation, but he must have still looked confused, because Verde actually slammed both of his hands down onto the table and said, ignoring Skull startling, “To the rest of the mafia, you are an impossibility; how is a Cloud meant to shield the boss _and_ drift? How is a Lightning meant to protect the Family from a distance when the very idea is anathema to these half-wits?” 

Verde leaned in, eyes wild and green green green sparking and crackling over his skin in a soothing crackle, and he said, “Skull, you are none of this; you fascinate me!”

He tried to lean back but that murmur of lightning was so so nice and warm and soothing, and he didn’t know what was happening or what he was doing, just that the purple fire inside him was roaring its agreement as the dense green one rose up to match Verde’s, it wanted to meet the other’s fire, and –

And Skull burst out into great green flames, running wildly all over his skin and then rushing right for Verde’s, and then the two met and it was – 

It was Home, and they each looked at each other like they both had all the answers, and it was so funny that for once, Verde didn’t know what to do, was looking to Skull! But he was just as lost and found as the other man sitting in front of him, and the both of them were one big mess, and Skull knew, he knew that there was no going back from this.

He was a coward, he was, but for this – this warmth and belonging and comfort that wrapped around and inside of him in a curl of courage, for this he would try.

Verde looked at him as if he’d never seen anything else, as if he were _precious_ , and exclaimed, voice trembling, “Impossible!”

But he was smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

That night, Skull had forgotten all about the nightmares, memories, whatever – all he could see was Verde, as the two of them snuck off to the older lightning’s (a lightning! Skull was a lightning like Verde!) room and talked and talked and talked.

But first, Skull had needed to take in all of… the room. It was Verde, alright, all over. The walls and furniture the exact same as all the others, with the small addition of a lot of electronics. Computers, phones, wires and tools, books and books, and some stuff Skull didn’t even want to touch, let alone look at – and then, there was the Alligator. He had nearly shrieked and run for the door. Would have, if it hadn’t been for the strange (amazing!) bond humming between him and Verde, and how calm and nonthreatening it felt. (If this was a trap, well, Skull was already fucked.)

So Skull decided to show a little trust as the green haired lightning introduced him. To the Alligator, whose name was Keiman, and who was actually a little sweetheart who loved being pet on the snout and across his back, and soon enough, he had a lapful of nuzzling Alligator and a heart thrumming with happiness. 

“You’re so cool!” he’d whispered to Keiman, who merely head-butted him on the chin in affection, and as he practically melted, a nearby observing Verde was wearing an expression that might have been called fond. 

It had been a sad Skull who had been pried away from the Alligator but a promise of seeing him tomorrow had quickly made him gone from pouting to a wide grin, and Verde had flatly called him an idiot before pulling him down to sit on the bed next to him.

Skull had laughed and called him forward, and Verde had actually turned a little pink. Cute! But Skull knew well enough not to push his luck, and so engaged the scientist in questions before Verde could get angry. They talked for hours; mafia society, flames, the Arcobaleno, their mutual distaste for the man who’d brought them all here and Luce both, and Harmony. Apparently that was what the bond humming contently between them was. It was supposed to be impossible, Verde said, for two elements to bond without one of them being a sky.

He had multiple theories to throw around; maybe Skull was a latent sky whose primary and secondary flamers were really his third and fourth flames, and his sky just hadn’t become active yet? He’d quickly tossed that one aside, though. Supposedly everyone would know if he were a sky…? Just to be sure, he’d said, they’d conduct some tests, with your consent of course… (And how did Verde know, Skull thought? How did he know to ask? Because Skull was under no illusions of Verde being a good person, no matter how _right_ this bond between them was, because Skull wasn’t either. And yet… Verde _asked_ for his permission. Skull didn’t say how much that mattered to him. Verde already knew.)

Then, he’d taken great joy in positing, what if the mafia was wrong? What if they’d taken not just flames, but Harmony for something else for all those years and years? After all, there were so many things lost from Primo’s generation, he’d muttered, what if this was just another lost fact?

And then Skull had interrupted Verde’s glorious tirade to ask who Primo was, and that had really set Verde off. Skull came out of that lecture thinking both that Verde would be a great professor, and also that the mafia was really, for some reason, in love with this one guy who’d been dead for, what, centuries?

Verde had stared at him and then started cackling when he’d said that, so really, Skull thought, what was he supposed to get from that whole explanation in the first place if not that?

“But he sounds pretty cool, I guess,” Skull had said in response to Verde’s weird mood swings that, by this point, were starting to become pretty routine. He could roll with it, as long as he got to cuddle with Keiman again.

Anyway, Verde had coughed, shooting him an exasperated look that was half-way baffled, perhaps the mafia is wrong and Harmony between elements themselves is actually possible; what else, then, were they wrong about, if that were true, he’d asked with a truly wicked smirk?

Probably everything, Skull had replied, shrugging, and yelped when Verde swarmed him, hands on his shoulders and that pretty lightning sparking from him again and tickling Skull as it nudged pointedly at him. Like a cat asking for attention, which he had to snort at.

For being so wary of Verde just a few hours ago, he was being awfully trusting as he stood there and let the scientist manhandle him, Skull mused. But, did it matter?

This bond went both ways, he reflected. If he was being so trusting, then it meant that Verde was too. Letting him into his room, where all the data of his projects was (Skull had no doubt there were backups upon backups. Still…) and not to mention Keiman, Verde’s partner! If Skull was being naïve, then Verde was being unusually open. As he considered this, Skull thought he could understand Verde’s fascination of the Harmony between them better. 

Skull was excited, too. Oh, he was nervous and apprehensive besides. But he wasn’t afraid, which was a nice change of pace. He felt almost like the person he’d been before this whole mafia business, a normal guy who loved doing tricks on his bike and the rush he could get from it… but he wasn’t. He wasn’t that person anymore, and he might have mourned the fact if it weren’t that this thing between him and Verde was just so… so brilliant! (Almost as brilliant as Verde.)

They were both vulnerable here, Skull knew. And if Verde was willing to take that risk, well. He was very interested in this, too. He wanted to see where it went, what it was, and… he wanted to know Verde most of all.

If such a brilliant and amazing and admirable man like Verde, (hard working, _passionate_ Verde; how could the world ever think him cold?) if a man like that wanted Skull enough to from a bond like this with him, then Skull counted himself exceptionally lucky. (Little did he know, Verde’s thoughts were a perfect mirror to his, if for different reasons.)

Skull had so many questions, and he asked them all of Verde, who just seemed to get more and more excited as he answered and the questions never ran out, as if he took joy in sharing the fruits of his research. As if he reveled in showing Skull light; leading him from that darkness of ignorance with a firm hand and sharp, quick, words. 

Skull took just as much joy in asking, in being curious and for once, being rewarded for it. He’d never known someone like Verde before, someone who reacted to some probably stupid questions with not a scoff or sneering mockery, but a flurry of hurried gestures and genuine eyes that regarded him not as an idiot (what would a circus performer know of mathematics, of the sciences? Just because he didn’t know didn’t mean he didn’t want to know, he’d wanted to scream thousands of times) but as a person Verde could teach. And, and it was… it was the relief of the wind as he crashed, the rain in a thunderstorm – Verde was antiseptic to Skull, the infection, and it was breathtaking. 

The two of them fed off each other, they both realized at exactly the same time, and they both turned to each other with twin expressions of fierce, unrelenting satisfaction and determination to, no matter what happened in the future, never give this up. 

The world was greedy and it took and destroyed whatever it didn’t understand – Verde had no interest in sharing, and neither did Skull, thrust into the lion’s den and skirting the edges of the cage, hiding blood; but even he could bite back.

They didn’t need to say anything; their dense, heavy green fire did all the talking as it practically purred as it mingled between them, lazily and happily merging and combining. For some reason, it felt… intimate? But Verde didn’t say anything, so Skull didn’t ask, didn’t want to cause it to end.

(The two lightnings could sometimes be comically alike in their thoughts patterns.)

Then, Skull asked, and in what was becoming something of a happy habit, Verde answered.

“Why do our lightning flames feel the same?”

“We are both Inverted; your Cloud is as well, which is fitting. The both of us aren’t suited for direct combat.” Verde said it with no shame – he said it like it was simply a fact, nothing to be ashamed of. Skull remembered Reborn and Colonello and how they laughed as he ran and hid and avoided fighting as much as he could, and he thought viciously, _good_.

“Instead, our talents lie in much more defensive options; Lightning is a very dense Flame, as I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, and it is particularly useful for not just hardening, but cloaking as well. In this way, Lightning Flames are suited quite well for stealth. Your Cloud, on the other hand, has propagation, which combined with Lightning, could make for a very interesting surprise, if you are creative enough.” Verde’s smirk said that he knew that Skull was, and Skull nearly smirked back. _Sempai_ never did find out who had put granulated garlic in the sugar container that one morning. (His face had been _priceless_.)

Skull looked up at his fellow lightning, at the one person here he might actually be able to trust, the only one he actually _liked_ , and he asked, a little bit timid, (twice bitten, thrice shy) “Will you teach me?”

Naturally, Verde answered, and it was so instant, so firm, like the scientist had never had any other consideration except for, “Yes.” 

Skull felt his heart skip, his flames almost dancing as they tried to sweep Verde’s up in their happiness, and Verde, he, with a small smile, he took Skull’s hand and led him over to his nest of computers and monitors and his hand was still holding his!

“Let’s start here. Watch,” Verde began typing and it was so familiar that Skull had to smile, feeling warm, murmuring quietly, “Of course.”

He watched the other lightning begin to type, and as he started hacking into a random website, probably child’s play for him, Skull was surprised to see crackling green flames almost… hide under Verde’s skin? No, they were doing something… On instinct, Skull looked down at Verde’s hands and his eyes widened when he saw how fast he was typing, no hint of any flame whatsoever.

Less than a minute later, Verde had completely bypassed any and all security and had then moved onto reprogramming the website’s security – “Really, they should be thanking me.”- and Skull was almost vibrating in place, so many things he wanted to ask and so many ways he wanted to try to do what he suspected Verde was doing.

When the mouse was handed over to him with a smirk, and a raised eyebrow that asked a single thing, he replied in the only way he could: Skull laughed brightly and began experimenting, green eyes intense and focused beside him.

He reached for his green flames, and they felt like a friend welcoming him back from a long vacation – a heavy blanket soft and energized and ready. He dragged them up and then out, and they manifested in beautiful green sparks, running down his skin and laughing as it settled into his fingertips. He started typing, just like that one mission, and this was fun, this was so cool; he could feel his flames helping as they enveloped his presence completely and Hid him; his purple fire rose eagerly to his call and as they sprung from the green like wildflowers, he had them make more pathways and exits and backup exits and places he could run to if Verde’s new security system forced him to run.

Even with his lightning, Verde’s walls detected him, and he could almost _feel_ the alarm before it sprung into text on the screen, and before he could be captured, his purple fire caught him and threw him towards one of his many contingencies. He went, and closed the door behind him, green welding it shut shut shut, and Skull nearly laughed as he felt the force as it banged against his flames, his purple fire arching and baring its teeth when the threat nearly got through; he left some of it there to guard him, and then Skull found himself in a maze of information and wires and bright lights and he was running, grin on his face and fingers a blur as he typed, darting to and fro as he cracked open and left some walls bleeding; others, he left entirely alone as he blazed through.

It wasn’t long before he reached what he knew to be the end of it, and it was heavy with that soothing crackle of Verde, his flames so sharp and pretty and dangerous, and Skull, buzzing and grinning and pumped up, directed his purple and his green and _combined_ them together to make something entirely else; his flame shot quick as a whip around and over and sideways Verde’s flame, playing tricks and dodging attacks, and the ones that did touch him merely fell through him like smoke and then – then, he flipped the switch, and he shut down everything.

Heart beating fast, veins shaking, Skull took his fingers from the keyboard and turned to Verde, smile so wide and happy he probably looked absolutely deranged – he didn’t care – and he threw his arms around the other man in a hug that made the scientist stiffen up.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Skull whispered, over and over, aching with how grateful he was. Verde had to know, had to know what he’d given him. (A piece of himself back, and something new, too. How did Verde keep getting _better_?)

A few minutes later and Skull was just about to let go when he felt Verde’s arms come around his form hesitantly, awkwardly. The other lightning coughed to himself, turning his face away from Skull’s.

“You’re… quite welcome.” And they stayed like that for a few minutes more, and Skull was snickering so hard he was almost crying when he was finally released.

He looked up at Verde and smiled. “You’re horrible at this, aren’t you?”

Verde pushed his glasses up (a nervous tick? Whatever it was, it was fucking cute) and tried to be stern; his twitching mouth gave him away and he soon covered his smile with a hand. A shame.

“I am indeed, quite bad at people.” And he said it like he was proud. What a dork.

Skull leaned back on his hands and blew out a breath, still smiling. (And how did he ever get so relaxed around this guy, huh? How that’d happen?)

“Don’t worry,” Skull winked, “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but… I’m kind of new to this whole mafia thing.”

Verde jerked and tried to cover up his snort, but soon, he was _laughing_ , head thrown back and everything, and the bond between them was so warm and welcoming and just them, and Skull thought to himself, Oh, I’m definitely making you do that again.

After they’d settled down, Skull finally realized just how sleepy he was in actuality, and so Verde had sent him off to his room with gleaming eyes and a wild smirk as he’d said, “We wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, would we?”

He’d had Skull giggling the entire walk back to his own room (but not before he’d given Keiman the pets he deserved) and as he flopped down onto his own bed, Skull really couldn’t contain his excitement or his apprehension for when the rest of the Arcobaleno found out about... how he and Verde had Harmonized, somehow. 

Now call him crazy, but he didn’t think the revelation would go over well with them. If he could, he’d take himself and Verde (and Keiman!) far, far away where there was no mafia and make popcorn and watch through his scientist’s surveillance cameras just how exactly the rest reacted to this particular bit of news.

Or maybe, he thought, maybe if it was up to him, he’d never tell them. Him and Verde, this was between them… it was theirs. The others had no right to go barging in on it at all, and if he had his way, if he ever had the chance, he’d leave them behind, with Verde by his side. It just seemed natural. 

He’d never… had someone like Verde. Ever. And Verde… felt like a mentor and a friend and a crush all at the same time, and it was exciting and wonderful and Skull never wanted this feeling to end; this happiness. 

He’d never thought he’d find someone who said he was _worth _something. But, but he could get used to it. Definitely.__

__And if Skull ever heard the others ( _Reborn_ ) bad mouth Verde ever again, he’d…. he’d…. he would be very angry and he just knew that if push came to shove, he would protect Verde like the other man had been protecting him._ _

__It was only fair._ _


	3. Chapter 3

As much as Skull liked to pretend to the contrary, Reborn wasn’t an idiot. Something was going on with the scrappy brat and their resident mad scientist, and he didn’t know what to feel about it. 

They were all gathered around the table for breakfast (Luce’s insistence, of course), all of them killers or murderers of some kind (except for…) and when Reborn began their usual morning routine, Skull didn’t react how he expected. Not at all.

“Lackey,” he purred, voice low, “where’s my coffee?” The others paid no mind; this was habit, and so, background.

Skull, though, he didn’t fluster and hurry to obey, no. He stood straight as he slowly turned his head to look at him, and then – he smiled. It was an expression Reborn had never seen from him before. (He ignored the stray thought that said that the brat could actually clean up well when he wasn’t wearing those ridiculous piercings or all that makeup to hide his face. He still had standards.) 

“No,” Skull said, causal as you please, and the low buzz of other conversations died a slow death. Fon seemed to be interested; his eyes were sharp as they looked between he and the lackey, and Viper may have appeared uninterested but the way their body was subtly leaning towards he and Skull gave them away. The others merely stared.

All except for one. Verde. (Bastard; he itched to put a gun to their Lightning’s head. Not to kill him, oh no. But wouldn’t it be fun to finally see him _beg_?) The scientist was watching Skull very keenly indeed, and oh? Would that be emotion? In Verde? Miracles were real.

Reborn didn’t know what it was exactly, but something was going on between Verde and Skull, and wasn’t that interesting? What would those two have to do with each other? He’d thought, apparently mistakenly, that the Lightning disdained the Cloud as he did the rest of them. An equal indifference that suddenly wasn’t so equal anymore. How odd.

Back to Skull though: Reborn tilted his head and smiled. It wasn’t a very nice one, and he could see the way Skull subtly flinched, and it made him stand up and go over to him, looking down on him from multiple angles. (Reborn didn’t hate Skull, no. He hated the _waste_ of potential that their Cloud was. Such powerful Flames, and yet he did nothing with them. He didn’t even try to fight. He _snubbed_ them.) 

He’d always wondered what would happen if Skull were to ever truly get angry. What sort of chaos would he unleash…? It was fun winding him up and watching him go, but Reborn hungered for that loss of control he craved; would Skull finally, finally fight back? (Would he finally quit that stupid _fucking_ act already? He might be half way tolerable then.)

And if he did, what then, he pointedly didn’t answer himself? What would you do then? Reborn already knew, but found that he didn’t like the answer. He didn’t want to lose the hatred he was cultivating in the Cloud’s eyes; didn’t want to like him, because if he did, if Skull ever smiled at him like that for real, then he would lose.

And if there was one thing that Reborn _refused_ to do, it was to lose. (He wasn’t wrong; he had decided on this course of action the very instant Skull had cowered back from his smirk and he’d decided that he’d teach the Cloud just what he was dealing with here -) 

He wasn’t wrong – Skull was. The whole point of this was to make Skull into someone that wasn’t so _weak_. (So that you can fight him and not feel like you’re losing.)

Reborn didn’t do change. Other people did, and if Skull hadn’t learned this lesson yet, well. He had plenty of time left to keep teaching him. 

(Reborn never changed; he never gave people that sort of power over him. Why would he? He was possessive of himself – he would never give himself to someone else.)

“What was that, Skull?” He asked again, sure his eyes were flashing. Good; let him see. Let him think about who he’s talking to.

_His_ lackey, though. Oh, Skull snapped his head up to glare at him, fists clenched and mouth in a trembling grin, his teeth bared and purple ringing his eyes. What a sight!

“Sorry, _sempai_ , the magnificent Skull-sama said no. Or did you not catch that? Want me to run it by you again?” The brat had the gall to mime snapping his teeth at him, and Reborn let a cold smirk curl over his lips as he bared his own fangs. 

And he chuckled, as he opened his mouth again. “You’re being very _bold_ today, aren’t you, lackey?” And before he could even touch Skull’s shoulder, the Cloud had snarled and caught his wrist in a tight hold, violet Flames nipping and scratching him in warning. It was almost cute. 

Reborn took his hand back and smiled as the brat yelped as he sent his Sun up through his body and into Skull’s; a little shock to his system. Just a friendly warning.

It was at that moment that Verde stood, chair screeching as he marched over, face closed off and colder than he’d ever been, even at his worst. Lal, who’d been sitting next to him, sent him a grimace, but said nothing. She knew how to read an atmosphere, if nothing else. (And how to shoot a firearm, but of course his own skills ranked far above hers by comparison. He would stand for nothing less.)

Fon merely observed neutrally, never one to voice an opinion either way. (Reborn knew that Skull liked this one the least; Fon knew it as well. At the very least, no one could accuse him of being stupid.) Even though the martial artist rather liked Skull, or found him amusing in any case, it seemed he hadn’t made any progress of winning the Cloud over. (Which made Reborn smirk. Here he was, the one that had done the worst to Skull, and yet it was the mild mannered Storm that the brat found issue with; what priorities their Cloud had!) 

Reborn smiled at their Lightning, letting his Flames flare subtly. “What?” He asked, tone entertained. Verde didn’t even twitch, even if Reborn could feel the way the other man’s Flames spiked towards his dangerously – tut, tut. Did he have no finesse at all? 

“Reborn. It’s been long enough for you to come off that high horse and down to Earth, hasn’t it? Or are you so pathetic that you’re blind to reality? Really, to think I expected better of you.” And with those words that sounded so _bitter_ , Verde turned away without another look and started walking away. The faint trace of his Flames lingered in the air – sharp and unforgiving, waiting to act if they deemed it necessary. Such a nice trick. (Verde’s Lightning had always been so _heavy_ , hadn’t it? Of course he would have figured out a way to make it stick around…)

As his Lightning walked through the door, out of the kitchen and into the hallway, Reborn looked down at the Cloud he still had and started laughing. Skull crossed his arms and scowled up at him, his freckles standing out without all that gunk to hide them, and he looked so much younger with them showing. (It was probably why he wore it in the first place.) 

“What is going on?” It was Colonello, who looked between he and Skull with furrowed brows and a frown, his hand on his gun. He looked more of an idiot than usual, which was a funny thought. 

“None of your business,” Skull snapped, making to leave, and oh, that wouldn’t do. Reborn brought an arm around his torso and _tugged_ , and there Skull went, tripping right on top of his chest. Making a fool of himself as usual. 

“Oh, I think it is, lackey, especially since you’re our Cloud. You didn’t think we’d just leave you alone, did you?” Reborn’s voice suggested just how humorous he found that idea. 

Skull opening his mouth, glaring, but before he could say anything, someone interrupted. Viper, that snake. (Thinking themself so clever, so sneaky – but nothing got past insects, so why would mist be an exception? Even the absence of something is noteworthy. His Mist would do well to remember that.)

“Mou, what a waste of time. Verde is obviously teaching him.” Skull’s eyes went wide as he stared at them, and hell, he was such a terrible actor. Had he learned nothing?

“Not for very long, from the looks of things,” Lal Mirch’s voice joined in, and Skull switched his gaping from one target to another. How unattractive.

Skull eventually got over his shock, and as he stood there huffing at them all, he shot Rebron a glare that clearly read as, ‘This is all your fault!!!’ 

Reborn tilted his head as if to ask, ‘Who, me?’

Skull threw his hands up and practically stomped from the room, growling all the way. Reborn felt his blood heat; he wanted to give chase, wanted to hunt and kill and play and utterly _take_. He often entertained the fantasy of killing his fellow Arcobaleno – oh, but Skull’s was much too sweet for his taste. (Blood on his teeth, a thin throat gouged out; no bullets for this one.)

Luce, coming in from the garage, said, “They grow up so fast.” She always looked so nostalgic, so wistful. He sometimes wondered if she was remembering a time when she had nothing but herself. (Did she like the circumstances better now? It was a cruel laughter that echoed inside him, saying, _no. probably not_.)

Reborn snorted. “That one still has a lot of growing to do.”

Their Sky turned a smile his way, her eyes warm. “Don’t we all?”

Reborn didn’t know about that. Then again… as he looked towards the doorway, where their little Cloud had escaped, he tilted his fedora down and turned away to hide his smile.

“I suppose.” 

It seemed his Cloud had found something to occupy himself with; something other than the pathetic farce he’d thought he’d had all of them fooled with. (Reborn had never seen such an atrocious cover in his life.) 

He fully intended to drag out just what had captured Skull’s attention so thoroughly, and once he had – he’d only have to wait for the trap to be sprung. And Reborn could be patient.

Sometimes the threat was so much sharper than the knife. 

In the meantime, though, he might as well enjoy himself. He got up to make some coffee, partook in the breakfast Luce had so kindly cooked for all of them, and as he sat there, making small talk and discussing plans for a spar with Fon later that afternoon, Reborn’s eyes never left his Elements.

They were his, all of them. Luce, Viper, Fon, Lal, Colonello, Verde, Skull. He was their Sun, he was theirs. He never thought he’d ever find an actual Family to join – thought he’d be freelance until he died a bloody end (the best kind). But here he was, firmly attached and not planning on letting go anytime soon. No, never. 

If they ever tried to leave him, dared try and die on him – (Sun Flames screeched and rang out with utter _denial_ ; he would drag them back from Hell’s doors itself if he had to.)

He couldn’t tell you why. Wouldn’t even if he could. Just knew that they (he) belonged. A first. It was perfect, just perfect. His gut purred with satisfaction, sunlight dappled on skin – a claim of ownership. And for a man who so detested the idea of change, of being forced to _move_ … never let it be said that he couldn’t compromise. 

For this, for his Elements, he would gladly bend every so often – just so long as they knew their place (beside him, always beside him, never leave him). He had to admit, that kind of change… once in a while, it was okay.

If Verde wanted to spend time teaching Skull, all the better. It was clearly having some effect already. That attitude, those words, his eyes – not yet evolution. Not yet. So let their Lightning do what he wanted; let Skull have this. Reborn would be more than happy to… test the results.

(make him into a monster, and then-)

Reborn’s lips curled up, his thoughts languid and prowling. As he relaxed back in his chair, he caught Fon’s eye. Tiger’s yellow flashed the martial artist a greeting; returned, when a deep darkness blinked back at him.

“It seems things are changing,” His Storm said, and Reborn disagreed, smirking.

“Skull is.”

A long sleeve disguised a smile, and Fon’s eyes were amused. “That poor boy.”

He lifted a brow, silent. Smooth but calloused hands (an excellent contradiction) lifted the teacup and decided to drag things out a few seconds. For what was Fon if not annoying? But it was the sort of irritation he didn’t mind. This had become something, too.

“Forgive me for saying so, but you look like you want to eat him.” Fon slyly smiled at him, voice not even suggestive; their Storm was too good for that. 

Reborn snorted and scowled at the same time, finding the idea… “Disgusting.”

“Don’t enjoy the flavor?” 

His brows climbed higher, and Reborn reluctantly started to smile. “Not so much the flavor as the aftertaste.”

Onyx eyes were mischievous as they regarded him, and Fon tilted his head ever so slightly. “I see.”

A few seats down, Colonello turned to Viper with a frown, frustration brewing low in his stomach. “Do you know what they’re talking about?”

The Mist scoffed. “Something I have no interest in.”

The blond Rain grinned and leaned in closer to them, eyes laughing. “Even if I payed you?”

Silver eyes glared at him from underneath a hood and Colonello could only watch as they dissolved into seamless smoke; gone. 

“Ah, no one’s any fun around here, seriously…”

He yelped when he felt a familiar hand slam down on his head, causing him to nearly face plant against the table. He looked up and found a scowling Lal Mirch.

“Stop being an idiot!”

Colonello grinned and shot her a wink. “I’ll try my best!” Lal turned fierce eyes on him, and he felt his face redden, and nervous sweat start to bead on his skin. 

She was too beautiful for him to look at. (Lal was… the only one for him.) 

After firing off some choice words, along with another punch, she stalked off to the garage – probably wanted to get a head start on training.

“Come on, you idiot!” She yelled to him without looking back, knowing he would be behind her. Sure enough, he was.

“Coming!” 

He always would be.


	4. Chapter 4

Skull closed his eyes, breathing in and out, in and out – just like Verde had taught him. The forest air was clear and crisp, birdsong and the hum of insects only serving to relax him further. He shook his head, murmuring to himself to focus. He was searching for his flames, his flames. Nothing else.

As he breathed, his heart gradually slowed and all the noise drifted away. But what he was looking for was deeper, and so he inhaled and dove, and after a minute or two, he almost ruined any progress he had made by getting too excited. But he could feel it! That wonderful fire…

It rose to meet him, and just when it was about to playfully manifest on his skin, he exhaled and pushed it down – tangled himself in it and settled it down. It went willingly, if a bit disappointed, and he was too, really, but. Verde had stressed just how important control was, and how he needed to learn it before anything else. That meant practice. Lots of it. 

And his fellow lightning had been more than willing to help him through it, had been eager, in fact. But Skull had wanted some time to himself and anyways, he could tell that Verde was going kind of crazy going so long without working on one of those projects of his. They both liked spending time together, there was no doubt, but they were both pretty private people on their own. It was good for them to be apart for a while, even if whatever Verde was getting up to had to be good. 

Even though practicing was a little boring. But only a little! Because he didn’t think he’d ever get used to the whole flame thing; it was ridiculous, in the best way. Something out of a fairy tale, one he would’ve fallen in love with if he were younger. 

But if there was one thing he could be sure he’d never lose, it would be his curiosity. He counted it as his best and worst trait – after all, it was what had gotten him here in the first place.

Skull took a quick break and watched the sky. Clear and blue and fluffy white clouds – it was so peaceful. There was always something so reassuring about being surrounded by nature. 

A bright flash of color caught his eye and made him pause. He got up and went to see what it was, unable to help himself, when he found something that made him smile. It was a flower, so delicate and pretty and red all over. He picked it and after looking it over, feeling silky smooth petals between his fingers, he silently slipped it behind his ear. His hair probably clashed with it horribly, but who cared? He liked it and that was all that mattered.

He wondered what Verde would say, and he had to stifle a snort. Something disparaging, probably. The scientist didn’t strike him as the roses and chocolate kind of guy. No, Verde wasn’t a romantic of any sort and that was a fact. (Why was that endearing in its own right?)

Snickering a little, Skull put his hands in his pockets and decided to take a stroll through the trees. As he did, he couldn’t help but feel a little childish for pretending to be on an adventure. But, well, he was, wasn’t he? Yeah!

He was on a quest!

* * *

“What… is this?” Skull saw Verde sigh as he eyed the offering, and that made him pout. He’d gone to all the trouble to find it, too.

“A present!”

The scientist tilted his head, his glasses reflecting the light and hiding his eyes. “Skull, this is a rock.” 

He cheered, pushing it against Verde’s chest until the lightning was forced to take it lest it drop onto his feet. (Verde was so weird. Who wore shoes in their own room?)

“I know, isn’t it pretty? I found it at the base of this big tree in the forest, and when I saw it I just knew it was for you. Do you like it?” He smiled at the way the bond between them flickered with confusion and something else he couldn’t make out – it was too faint.

Verde uncurled his fingers and held it up to his face, turning it over and over, examining it closely. He did that for a few minutes, enough so that Skull got slightly nervous, thinking that this had been a bad idea after all, when – 

“Yes, this shall suffice.” Verde’s previously flat voice had lightened considerably, more what Skull was used to, and the green haired man walked over to his desk where he decisively placed the rock onto a stack of papers.

A paperweight. Verde was using his present as a paperweight. Skull had to turn away to hide the way he was grinning, how his eyes were crinkling towards the corners… Okay, this hadn’t been the reaction he’d expected, but it was funny. At least he had chosen something practical? 

“And why do you have a flower in your hair? Am I to assume this will become a habit, much like your flare for cosmetics?”

Skull shook his head, unable to stop grinning. “Nope! Just thought it looked pretty.”

Verde looked at him for a few seconds and then shook his head, smirking wryly. “What an impulsive creature…”

Skull tilted his head, curious. “Hm?”

The lightning waved a hand, dismissing his question. Even if he really wanted to know now, he let it be. If it were important, Verde would probably tell him later.

“You do look much younger with it. Exactly how old are you, Skull?” Verde’s expression was searching, as if for some reason this was vital information. Shrugging, he answered.

“Hey, I’m not that young! I’m twenty one. Just how old are you, huh?”

Verde hummed, his reply immediate. “Twenty seven.”

Skull’s eyes widened, and he let out an incredulous noise. “No way, you’re older than _Reborn_?” That… was unexpected. Consider his mind officially blown.

Their bond thrummed with an underscore of sharp, jagged irritation suddenly, and Skull jumped at the force of it.

Verde turned around and scowled at him, fingers tap tap tapping against the wood of his desk. “And what is so surprising about that?”

He bit his lip and put a hand on his hip, letting a few seconds of silence pass. Then he shook his head quickly, a denial. “I just thought that old man was the oldest here! With how he goes on and on like he’s in charge, you know? But anyway, Verde, you look so much younger!” His words didn’t seem to help. If anything, they seemed to make things worse, much to his horror. 

Verde visibly became even more upset, his brows lowering and his teeth clenched. Even without those tells, the bond between them was flaring with so many emotions that Skull couldn’t tell one from another, let alone what they were. All he could tell was that he’d underestimated the depth at which the other lightning felt. (A bottomless, never ending gravity…)

Feeling all that, was it any wonder then that Skull walked a few steps closer until he was looking up at the other man? He smiled, exasperated and a little bit amused, and he said, “Verde.”

All at once, it seemed as if everything stopped. Those eyes focused on him, even more intense than when they were glaring. Had he surprised him? Green hair tilted to the side, as if to say, ‘well’?

“You don’t have to be so jealous, you know.” Saying so, he laughed softly and reached up to put a single red flower behind Verde’s ear.

“It looks good on you!” He flashed a thumbs up and grinned dumbly, reveling in the slight shock of those eyes before their owner was soon back in control again, Verde reaching up to touch it.

“Skull.” And he didn’t say anything else, and yet just that one word was enough for Skull to bark out a laugh, dizzy and playful. (Verde was so, so easy to get caught up in. Careful, careful...)

He ran for the door only to trip over a scaled tail, Keiman hissing sadistically. He was still laughing as he melodramatically pounded on the floor as he was dragged by the fabric of his shirt by those sharp teeth and over to Verde’s evil scientific nest of doom. 

His fellow lightning smirked at him, and Skull wasn’t afraid at all. He smiled back and resolved to try to have some fun with the tests that Verde ‘suddenly’ decided he wanted his help with. But how could it be a punishment when they both were playing off each other, Verde suggesting or demonstrating a way for him to use his flames, and Skull asking questions and trying and sometimes actually succeeding? It was, it was really cool, and he wondered if this was part of why the green haired man had become a scientist in the first place? He could understand, if that were the case. 

For the first time in what felt like forever, Skull found that he was allowed to _learn_ , and that – well, that was something he felt he’d been waiting a long time for, maybe. And now here an opportunity was, fallen into his lap. He would be a fool to let it go, to not cling tightly until it left. 

So he didn’t. He wrapped himself around that golden, shining light so hard that it could burn, and he decided to try, no – _do_ his best. He would do whatever it was that they were working towards (control, protection, confidence) and he would master it. He wouldn’t allow himself anything else. In part to thank Verde, yeah, but more… more for Skull, for the person he used to be. That boy who never dared to dream of this moment, a chance to make something of himself.

He had, for a time. They’d called him the Immortal Skull, and he’s proud to wear that name. But… maybe it’s time for him to _want_ something. All those years drifting, drifting, drifting… right now, all he wants is to stay with Verde. And that’s fine, that’s a good goal for now. Because to do that, Skull has the feeling that he needs as much training as he can get, and if Verde’s eager to help, then all the better. He can’t think of a better teacher. 

“Now, call your Flames into being. No, no, don’t let them manifest. Pull them towards the center, inside – yes, exactly! When you feel confidant, use them to saturate the entirety of this room, and once you’ve done that, _slowly_ pull them back.”

Skull’s no stranger to hard work. And he wants this to work, him and Verde, Harmony. He can feel his bonded, right there next to his heart, and – he’s warm. Verde’s so _warm_ , and Skull wants to protect that, protect him. Just as he can feel the sharp and dangerous edges of where the scientist begins and Skull ends, he hopes that Verde can feel the simple rounded curves of where he’s been and where he’s just beginning to explore; a determined happiness, and a tiny wish that this will last.

Let the places where the two of them meet become familiar ground. It sounds wonderful. A child’s winter day dream – that sort of fervent, cold want for comfort. 

“Repeat this process five times, and if I judge you competent, we will then move onto the next step. Take as much time as you need; speed will come later. Much better to understand what you’re doing before running blind… there is a time and place for experiments, unfortunately.”

He has the feeling that Verde is just as new to this Harmony thing as him, and that’s such a big thought to have. Verde is someone so smart and well-put together that it’s weird to think of him as stumbling and faltering along, just like Skull. It helps, too. They have each other in this. 

It’s humanizing, to see Verde in this new light. And suddenly, a little stupidly, it occurs to Skull that Verde is a person, too. It sounds so dumb, and it is, but all this time, he’s spent so much time admiring and in awe of and crushing on the good parts of a person. He thinks back to earlier, when the other man actually briefly became jealous, a moment of dark irritation that could have devolved into something much worse if left alone. Then come thoughts of callousness, of the scientist sitting back and smirking as their fellow Arcobaleno call for help that they have to wait for (and sometimes, it seemed that they would never get). The arrogance he can get when he feels that he is _right_ , and won’t hear anything to the contrary. How dismissive he can be of people he feels aren’t worth his time, how often he isolates himself and skips or forgets meals, the utter disregard for anything he’s not interested in…

For all that Verde is made up of good things, there’s plenty of bad things, too. A lot of stuff Skull probably hasn’t even scratched the surface of. That’s what a human is; a collection of habits and ideas and beliefs. None of it is wrong. Just a part of someone. 

Some people feel relief at the fact that the universe is so vast and they are so insignificant. Skull likes to find common ground between other people and himself. Finds it easier than small talk or ice breakers. It’s better to build on something already there than build up something new.

“I’ve always found your Lightning fascinating, Skull… not quite as hard as mine, no, but it is rather more flexible… different properties of the same whole. There’s so much to be learned from the application of them compared to other Lightning Flames, and to study their combination with Cloud…! Your other Flame is quite flighty; very temperamental, but sturdy. Almost grounded? They complement your Lightning well. Once you’ve gotten a grasp on your Flames, why not try mixing them? Observing that might prove… enlightening.” 

In other words, Verde was Verde. Nothing more needed to be said.

Skull lifted purple eyes to green, and dared breathe into life a question. “Verde, will you let me teach you biking?”

The scientist blinked, probably taken aback, given how random his words were. “Well… I must confess that I have never truly given motorcycles much thought. But now that you’ve mentioned it, I might as well agree. Who knows? It could be productive…” A mind always thinking ahead, never slowing down. 

He grinned, and admired the way a red flower clashed with green; his very own Christmas tree. 

“It’ll be fun!”

“Yes, yes, now – bring your Flames out. It’s time to test something.”

“Right!”

The next time Reborn tried to hurt him, he’d have a few tricks up his sleeve. The thought made him grin something wicked, and Verde wasted no time in joining in. 

The others wouldn’t know what hit them. (Lightning never strikes twice. But Skull’s Cloud was almost grounded indeed. Let them find out for themselves just how volatile a mix he was.)

It was time to see what Skull could do.


End file.
